Iowa State celebrated its Jack Trice Legacy Game presented by Nationwide with victory that featured big plays on both sides of the ball. Freshman Abu Sama III zipped 55 yards for a touchdown, Rocco Becht threw another TD pass and the defense came up with four interceptions in a 27-14 win over TCU at MidAmerican Energy Field at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday night.
Wearing throwback uniforms from the era when Trice played at ISU, the Cyclones (3-3, 2-1 Big 12) dominated the second half after taking a 10-7 lead at the break and beat TCU (3-3, 1-2) for the fourth time in five years.
The big victory came as Iowa State honored the life and legacy of Trice, the school's first Black student-athlete. Trice died after being injured in a 1923 game at Minnesota, just the second game of his collegiate career, and his story has resonated throughout the years.
After the Cyclones failed to take full advantage of some good opportunities in the first half, Sama triggered the charge that broke the game open when he zipped through a hole in the middle of the line at the ISU 45 and sped untouched to the end zone. The 55-yarder was the longest run of the season by an Iowa State back and stretched the lead to 17-7.
A 26-yard punt set the Cyclones up at the TCU 38 moments later and they capitalized, Becht rolling to his right and finding Easton Dean in the end zone on a 1-yard scoring play. It was the 10th scoring pass of the season for Becht, a redshirt freshman who has thrown for at least one TD in each of his first six starts.
Eli Sanders ripped off consecutive runs 29 and 28 yards to set up a 21-yard field goal by Chase Contreraz early in the fourth quarter to make it 27-7.
Beau Freyler intercepted two passes, Will McLaughlin and Malik Verdon each had one for the Cyclones and Darien Porter blocked a punt, the third punt block of his career. It's the first time Iowa State has picked off four passes in a game since intercepting four against San Jose State on Sept. 24, 2016.
The Cyclones now have 10 interceptions this year after recording only seven all last season.
Iowa State failed to capitalize when McLaughlin and Freyler, who also made a team-best 11 tackles, came up with interceptions on TCU's first two series. The Cyclones finally came through after dropping quarterback Chandler Morris for a 3-yard loss on fourth down near midfield. Five plays later, Sanders took a pitchout from Becht and circled right end from 4 yards out for a touchdown with 23 seconds left in the opening quarter.
TCU answered with an 11-play, 78-yard drive that Chandler Morris capped with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Savion Williams, but the Horned Frogs would not reach the end zone again until ISU had put the game out of reach.
Morris left the game with an injury early in the second half. Redshirt freshman Josh Hoover ran the offense the rest of the way and threw a 9-yard TD pass to Blake Nowell with 1:17 left.
Porter stormed in to block Jordy Sandy's punt in the final minute of the opening half, setting up a Contreraz 26-yard field goal on the final snap of the half for the 10-7 lead.
The Cyclones continue to show improvement in their running game and piled up a season-high 215 yards on the ground after rushing for 150 in their loss at Oklahoma a week ago. Sanders finished with 99 yards in 16 carries, Sama tacked on 59 yards and Cartevious Norton netted 47.
Becht finished 16-of-28 passing for 138 yards and was not intercepted.
This was the Cyclones' only home game in October. They play at Cincinnati next Saturday in an 11 a.m. kickoff and won't play in Ames against until hosting Kansas for homecoming on Nov. 4.
